Sixty-five people were arrested
on Saturday after participants in a march against police brutality blocked
Interstate 83 just north of downtown Baltimore.

The arrests created a chaotic scene around Penn Station, where
thousands milled around for the annual Baltimore Artscape festival.

The march, which was named and tagged on social media as
"Afromation," began at Guilford Avenue and Chase Street, moved
through Artscape on Charles Street, then to St. Paul Street and past Penn
Station to the I-83 onramp, which was closed for the festival.

"Once on the interstate, they locked arms and blocked
traffic along the northbound lanes for a short period of time before officers
arrived and began making arrests," Baltimore police spokesman Lt. Jarron
Jackson said in an email.

Fifty-five adults and 10 juveniles were arrested. Police
said those arrested will be charged with failure to obey and illegally
walking on a highway.

Processing was still continuing at midnight, police said.

David Blair, one of the organizers of the march, said the group
blocked the interstate for about two or three minutes until a group of police
officers told demonstrators they needed to unblock the expressway to allow an
ambulance through.

"We complied with the officers," said Blair, 21, who
was not arrested. "I think there are so many people that deserve to get
arrested — not peaceful protesters."

Blair said the group moved to the shoulders of the expressway.
But instead of an ambulance, two police vans drove through and parked on the
shoulder, and more police officers came out of them. The officers told the
group they needed to leave the area, and Blair said they complied.

Those officers followed and corralled the protesters as a group
of officers marched down the onramp, Blair said.

Protesters were then arrested and led into Penn Station or to
police vans waiting at the station. A large crowd of Artscape spectators and
activists circled around and chanted their support for those arrested.

No one resisted arrest, Blair said. Police did not use any
visible force, though Blair said a couple of protesters were forced onto their
knees.

Police did not immediately respond to questions about tactics
used to arrest protesters.

Those arrested were taken to Baltimore police's Northern
District station, Blair said. Police said they will be processed at Central
Booking.

Blair, a University of Baltimore student and co-leader of New
Lens Productions, a self-described youth-driven "social justice
organization" of filmmakers, said the group's demonstration was asserting
that "black lives do have validation in this country."

He said the group marched peacefully to raise awareness for many
issues, including the underfunding of schools and services in African-American
and minority neighborhoods, as well as the treatment of African-Americans by
law enforcement.

Karen DeCamp, the mother of 17-year-old David Pontious, a 2016
City College High School graduate who is attending the University of Maryland,
College Park, to study government and politics, said her son was one of those
arrested.

"Love that kid's integrity," she said.

"I'm proud that my son is standing with the Black Lives
Matter movement," DeCamp said. "They have specific demands that our
city leaders need to look at and act on including the civilian review board and
rebalancing the funds going to police versus [toward] youth, community
services."

Morgan State University professor Lawrence Brown, who marched
with demonstrators, said he didn't understand how police could legally arrest
some protesters who didn't make it to the expressway and were just on the
closed onramp.

"I know the folks who definitely shouldn't have been
arrested were people who didn't make it off the ramp," he said.

The second version comes courtesy of PopularResistance.org, 402
East Lake Ave., Baltimore, MD 21212

Afromation Protest in Baltimore

The protest was organized by Bmore Bloc, City
Bloc and SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice). Popular Resistance and others
joined the action to provide support. “‎#Afromation is an affirmation of black
life. It is a gathering of persons dedicated to reversing the cycle of
brutalization, desensitization, and surveillance. It is black lives affirming
the significance of their existence in retaliation to the systems that have
continuously sought to deny this affirmation. It is only through a
formation of undying will – in the form of resilient love and support –
dedicated to affirming the existence of blackness, that we will break the
chains that bind us. It is only through constant reclaiming of our lives,
against a world that continues to take our lives, that we will win our freedom:
freedom from endless cycles of violence, death, struggle and policing.
#Afromation is our fight for freedom, and it is our duty to win.”

Hundreds watched while about two dozen
blocked the highway. When the police arrived and ordered people off the road,
they responded by moving to the shoulder and began to leave the highway.

The police then made a tactical decision to
ensnare and arrest everyone — which turned out to be mostly people watching the
protest. They blocked off those who were on the entrance to the freeway which
had been closed to traffic. The people were mainly onlookers who were taking
pictures and videos on their phones and sharing them on social media, but the
first to be arrested were the legal observers and organizers. Protesters blamed
Lt. Thompson of the Baltimore police, who has been a thorn in the side of the
freedom to protest in Baltimore, for the unnecessary mass arrests. In the end,
65 people were arrested included ten youth. They were taken to the Northern District
and Central booking. Some were held inside police vans for 5 or 6 hours, others
complained about bruises on their wrists from being in tight handcuffs for too
long. All were held overnight and finally released.

-Create a civilian review board for police
investigations, ensuring that the citizens on the review board are elected
through a clear, transparent and fair process that will allow ordinary persons
in and from the communities in question to serve on the board. The community
has a right to self-determination and a right to have an impact in the process
of bringing a sense of justice and safety back into their own community.

-Reallocate 10% of the Policing budget away from militarization
of local police forces and mechanisms of community control and surveillance,
and towards community programming.

"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs